No Utilities

With electrics working, I decided to get a camp spot with no utilities for 4 days and see how it goes. Found a spot way away from the crowd, back away from the main roads private and under some shade trees. Well it was until I got neighbors.

Monitoring the battery usage, I started with 13.7 volts, brand new batteries . The first day used the furnace for 2 hours in the morning, then the small fan for 3 hours in the afternoon, at  the end of the day I was at 12.9 volts (still above full). Second day I didn’t need the furnace, but only ran the fan for 3 hours, at the end of the day I measured the batteries at 12.8 volts. Not going down very fast.

I purposely haven’t used the radio, water pump, or refrigerator. I do have a generator with me now so I could recharge if I needed to. Its amazing what you don’t need when you put your mind to it.

All is well, that nice man came by and mowed my lawn again, rode his tractor clean around my truck camper in the middle of my night. I went right back to sleep when he was done.

Tonight's the last night here, I’ll head back to civilization when I get off work tomorrow.

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Back home, final usage check tells me the batteries are down to 12.65 volts. I had used the fan for 4 hours again in the afternoon. From what I’ve gathered, 12.6 volts is considered full, so I don’t know what to think.

I must say the absolute best part of this trip was the time NOT spent loading and unloading the camper. Even though I had to haul it the 6 miles to work everyday, it gave me a place to get away for a few minutes, change clothes after work before going to breakfast and just not having to deal with all that's involved with the unloading/loading. The boondocking (camping without services) worked well, I never once needed anything I didn’t have with me. And I saved $27 by getting a “no utility” camp site. That alone paid for the fuel for the commute from Kansas City to Lawrence.